


Prosopagnosia

by TheRudeTasteofSane



Category: K-pop, SHINee
Genre: M/M, SHINee bois are not ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:33:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22570285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRudeTasteofSane/pseuds/TheRudeTasteofSane
Summary: You done made up your mind. I don't need no more signs.
Relationships: Choi Minho/Kim Kibum | Key, Choi Minho/Lee Jinki | Onew
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	Prosopagnosia

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING for possible dub-con towards the end. I didn't picture the participant as unwilling, but re-reading over the scene in question, it DEFINITELY comes off with some dub-con vibes. 
> 
> Set sometime in early 2018, about April-ish. I haven't been a hardcore SHINee fan for a while, so if I've gotten a couple of things wrong don't sue me pls lol.

Minho smiled at the other man, his eyes crinkling slightly. He ran his fingers through thick locks, before leaning down to press a kiss to Kibum's neck.

Kibum smiled back, but the smile faded when Jinki entered the room. Like someone had flipped a switch, Minho disentangled himself from Kibum's embrace and happily walked over to his best friend. They started talking about practice, Minho's face clearly expressing his pleasure at Jinki's company. 

Quietly, Kibum slipped away from the scene. He avoided Taemin's knowing gaze and called the manager to arrange a car. 

Whatever time he'd spent with Minho was over. 

By this point, he was used to it.

\--

At another nameless nightclub, Kibum squinted through the haze of smoke at Woohyun grinding on the dancefloor with some chick. He swallowed another shot of whiskey, bitterly wishing he was brave enough to flout his company policy.

His eyes flicked over to Jinki and Minho, sitting on a couch in the darkest corner of the club. Sitting so close together, touching frequently. Neither one of them even so much as glanced up at Kibum.

There were times Kibum almost wished he was blind, and this was one of them.

On his other side, Taemin sat down. The dancer said nothing at first, just poured Kibum another shot.

Kibum swallowed it down, relishing the distraction. However unpleasant the taste.

"Why do you even do it to yourself?" Taemin finally broke the silence between them, his voice strangely loud against the background noise of the club. 

Kibum shrugged. He turned and immediately wanted to look away from the badly concealed pity on Taemin's face. 

"I don't know," he replied, and resumed watching the pair. They had moved during his brief conversation, and were on the dance floor together.

Nobody looked twice at the friends dancing with their arms around each other, somewhat drunkenly. Kibum stared almost without blinking.

He swallowed another shot, before taking Taemin out with him on the dance floor. The whole time he danced with Taemin, he smiled pleasantly and let the beat influence his moves. He very studiously avoided looking at other people in the face, keeping his gaze on Taemin alone.

And if Taemin happened to glance over and see Minho literally boring holes through him, he felt certain Kibum would've wanted to know. 

But well... that's a mighty big 'if'.

  
\--

  
Kibum was working on lyrics for his new album when Minho dropped in. 

Perhaps expected, after the nightclub. 

Or perhaps not, judging from the vaguely impatient look on Kibum's face. 

"You need something?" Kibum asked, and Minho was surprised at the lack of malice in his tone. Kibum hadn't so much as spoken towards him lately, except during interviews and moments where they could be alone. 

He cleared his throat. 

"I was coming in to see if you might like some input," Minho chuckled. "I know you're particular about things with your name on them, but I figured it might help to have a sounding board for ideas." 

Kibum eyed him carefully, and Minho could see mistrust in the way Kibum wasn't saying anything. He realized then that he and Kibum hadn't really talked in months. 

He shuffled in place, flushing with guilt. They all still struggled on a daily basis, and Minho acutely felt the passage of time. Before he knew it, the anniversary would be on them. And Minho wasn’t quite sure what to do with that. 

"Sure," Kibum's voice broke Minho out of his thoughts, and he could only stare dumbly before he recalled the offer he'd made earlier. 

Shoving the darkness away to ruminate on later, he sat down next to Kibum and they started discussing the songs Kibum had written.

There was a sense of relief between the two of them, as they held a painfully awkward conversation. Like strangers getting to know one another.

It wasn't the worst thing that could've happened.

Sure as hell wasn't the best either, though.

\--

Kibum was standing out on the balcony of his apartment, puffing on a cigarette. This early in the morning it was cold outside, but he barely felt it. 

He replayed the scenes earlier with Minho, beating himself up for how easily he gave in. How civil he was to someone he wanted to punch in the face. His fist tightened, anger still boiling at how everything went to shit, even half a year later.

Kibum, out of all of them, understood that people showed their grief in different ways. But when he’d walked in right after Jonghyun’s funeral and saw Minho with Jinki..

No. There was no way he’d consider that anything other than disrespectful. Especially after they had continued their affair. Kibum and Minho had never been exclusive, more of a ‘when the opportunity arose’ kind of deal. But underneath everything, Kibum was cut to the quick. 

“What’s the matter?” Taemin came out to stand next to Kibum, rubbing his arms against the frosty air. 

“I couldn’t..,” Kibum flicked a long trail of ash away before taking a deep drag. He exhaled the smoke in a rush, bending forward onto his arms. “I was practically tripping over myself to be nice to Minho. God, I just..” Kibum willed himself not to cry. Taemin draped himself over Kibum’s back.

“It’s gonna be okay, Kibum,” he whispered in the still quiet that followed. “We’re gonna get through this.” 

\--

The next day at practice (because it seemed like SM’s idea of helping them deal was to schedule them to death), Kibum watched Minho and Jinki goof during one of their breaks. Anyone else would’ve passed it off as skinship, a show that the pair were healing. 

Kibum took a drink of water from his bottle, wiping at the sweat rolling down his neck. Absently, his mind wandered to all different subjects. He was considering whether it was time for Comme Des and Garcons to visit the groomer yet when Jinki plopped down next to him.

“I, uh.. Wanted to check in, see if things are okay,” Kibum nodded slowly.

“Yup, everything’s fine,” he answered, smiling tightly. Jinki hummed as a response, sitting there for several seconds in a tense silence.

“S-so you and Taemin, huh? I never woulda seen that happening,” he chuckled, trailing off when he realized Kibum wasn’t laughing. 

“If that was a joke, it was very poorly timed, Jinki,” Kibum stood up, his voice intentionally getting louder over the music. “Because I would _never_ stab my friend in the back like that.”

He slammed the door as he walked out, and no one came after him. He couldn’t decide if he was relieved or disappointed. 

Maybe, he mused, sitting on the rooftop out of view of the sasaengs, it was a little bit of both.

  
\--

This time, Kibum was by himself in the nightclub. None of the 91-liners had been able to come out, and Exo was filming a variety show. 

3 bottles of soju later, some of the tension had bled out of Kibum. He eyed the mass of bodies on the dance floor, wondering if he would be stable enough to dance. 

A dark, slow song came on and the ambiance of the club changed. Kibum headed into the crowd, full of the music. He swayed a little in place, before letting the beat move through him. 

He tried to listen to the lyrics, what parts he could hear and understand, and they hit like a punch to the gut. He felt heavy, remembering all the times he’d been numb lately from the sheer desolation, the abiding loneliness, he tried so hard to keep to himself. 

He stopped dancing, a wave of fatigue causing him to stand in place. He was just so _tired_.

The song ended, and Kibum decided to go home. He was heading towards the exit when Taemin came in with Jimin.

The two of them were laughing, arms linked. Kibum prayed they wouldn’t see him and ask him to join their evening out, because he wasn’t sure he could handle people seeing him in his current state. Much less his friends, who probably had no idea just how deep the darkness went.

It seemed the gods were on his side, however, as he slipped past the pair unnoticed. 

At home, he curled up with Comme Des and Garcons on the couch and listened to the noise of passersby on the street below. 

\--

The next day they had a brief period of free time before their schedules, so Kibum drove to the cemetery where Jonghyun was buried.

He took extra precaution to not be followed by sasaengs, and parked several blocks away just to be safe. 

He dreaded every step towards the grave, wishing and wishing and selfishly wishing some more that Jonghyun hadn’t given in to his inner demons. 

Kibum stopped in front of Jonghyun’s spot, placing his offering on the small mound before pouring a small bottle of sake out on top. He bowed, saying a prayer for Jonghyun before he settled down. 

“I’m sorry I haven’t come before now, Jjong. I hope you understand why..,” Kibum trailed off, letting out a breath. He’d sworn to himself he wouldn’t cry, but tears gathered at the corners of his eyes anyway. He cleared his throat, refusing to let them fall. “Why I waited so late. I’m s-sure you’re looking down and shaking your head at all of us, but you were always the glue, you know?” 

Kibum reached up and touched the headstone, stroking the marble like flesh. 

“I, um.. I don’t know what to say, really. I guess I should apologize for how I’ve been treating Jinki and Minho. It isn’t even about them, but I’ve been shitty about it.. God, why is it so much easier to admit this to you?” Kibum sighed when there was no answer. “I shouldn’t be burdening you with this. You’re at peace now, and I feel like I’m ruining it. I’ll go.” 

Kibum stood, before kissing his fingers and putting them on top of Jonghyun’s headstone. “I miss you so fucking much, Jjong. I can’t wait until I see you again.” As he headed back towards his car, Kibum could’ve sworn someone tried to grab his jacket for attention. But of course, no one was there. And it was windy, so he attributed the feeling to the wind. In no way did he entertain the thought that it might’ve been Jonghyun’s spirit, which would have only served to further his guilt.

While he was driving back to the city, Kibum wondered what he’d hoped to gain from visiting Jonghyun. 

Whatever it was, he knew with absolute certainty that he hadn’t gotten it.

\--

Taemin sidled up to Kibum in the dressing room before they stepped out on stage at the variety show they were appearing for. 

Kibum glanced at the younger man through the mirror, eyebrow raised as he finished his makeup. He could hear Jinki and Minho on the other side of the wall, laughing about something. Probably horsing around, if the faint thuds were anything to go by. 

Kibum sighed, bone-deep exhaustion seeping into his core. He was so tired of feeling pretty much anything at all, because in the background was pain.

Like someone had shot him in the back with an arrow.

"I was looking for you earlier but Jin said you'd gone somewhere. Tell me you haven't found a secret conquest," Taemin hopped up on the counter, smirking at Kibum's unimpressed look when it caused his cosmetics to scatter.

"I went to see Jonghyun," Taemin froze while playing with an eyeliner pencil, playful expression suddenly closed off. He swallowed, and Kibum kicked himself for not lying. 

"O-oh," Kibum's insides clenched at Taemin's soft reply. "H-have any sasaengs found it?" Kibum shook his head.

"I didn't see any, but you know you can never be sure," he answered, hating that he couldn't answer Taemin's question any more positively.

"That's a small blessing," Taemin's hands clenched against the counter. "I um.. I wanna say thanks. I'm sure Jonghyun felt a little less lonely since your visit." He offered Kibum a heartbreaking smile, and Kibum wrapped him in a hug.

They were still embracing when the crew knocked on the door, telling them that they needed to be on stage in five minutes. 

\--

Kibum was used to the rush of endorphins from performing, so it came as no surprise he felt marginally better after listening to the screaming fans in the audience. 

He scrolled through the likes on his latest Insta post, ignoring whoever had sat down next to him in the van. After reading the comments, he started scrolling through other pictures. He smiled at the silly selcas, the group photos, the dog pics, and all the magazine covers, before coming to a post with Jonghyun in it.

Nearly a half a year later, seeing Jonghyun smile still took Kibum’s breath away. 

He put his phone in his pocket, finally looking at who’d chosen to sit by him. 

Minho had obviously seen the photo Kibum had been looking at, the mix of longing and wide-eyed surprise morphing to guilt when he saw Kibum watching him. He offered his hand to Kibum, and an unspoken agreement passed between them as Kibum locked their fingers together.

Kibum looked to see what Taemin was doing, and found the youngest nearly glued to his phone. Kibum tried to wave his hand to get Taemin’s attention but with no luck. He shrugged his shoulder, turning to watch out the darkened window.

The rest of the ride to their respective places of residence was silent, broken only by the sounds of traffic around them and Jinki quietly murmuring to their manager. 

\--

“Of course, Jin. I’ll take him home, we just wanted to unwind a little after the show,” Kibum agreed before getting out of the van with Minho behind him. 

The walk up to Kibum’s apartment was charged with the promise of words and actions. Kibum was stewing in his own anxiety so badly he dropped his keys, snatching them up when Minho chuckled behind him.

Kibum’s stomach fluttered when Minho grasped him around his waist, swirling patterns just low enough to stoke a fire in his blood.

“You’re so cute when you’re flustered, Kibum,” he murmured against Kibum’s neck, nuzzling the soft skin.

Kibum swallowed, wanting to deny Minho’s words. The plain truth was, though, that he couldn’t. It had been months since he and Minho had been intimate, since he’d slept with anyone at all. 

He fumbled with the door code, using the wrong code twice before it beeped happily. 

Minho picked Kibum up as soon as the door swung closed, ignoring the dogs as they clamored around his legs for their owner. 

He brought them to Kibum’s bedroom, laying Kibum down across the spacious bedspread. He kissed Kibum fervently, trailing down until he reached Kibum’s pants. 

He looked up at Kibum, wearing a wicked smirk. Remembering the many times they’d wound up like this, Kibum couldn’t help thinking about how that fucking look would be the death of him.

\--

Hours later, Kibum woke up to the sound of jingling. He looked over at his bedside clock, eyebrows furrowing when he saw it was after midnight.

“Ah sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up,” Minho apologized, and Kibum felt a rock hit the bottom of his stomach. “It’s just. Jinki’s at the dorm by himself, you know, and..,” Kibum remained quiet through Minho’s stilted reply. He laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. Kibum had already texted Jin, but that wouldn’t matter. By now, Jin was gone from the dorm and would be none the wiser tomorrow morning. 

“Can’t you stay?” Kibum asked softly, after Minho had stopped his awkward excuses. In the dark, it was impossible to see Minho’s face. But Kibum had a good idea of the expression he would’ve seen anyway, and he closed his eyes.

“Kibum, I..,” Minho sighed, and Kibum wondered if maybe Minho _should_ go. Maybe Jinki _was_ better than him. Jinki probably wouldn’t have had to beg someone to stay after sex. 

Kibum rolled over on his side. 

“Forget I asked. It was nothing,” he said in what he hoped was a dismissive tone. Minho didn’t resume dressing until several seconds later, walking out of the room quietly. Kibum heard him play with Comme Des and Garcons briefly before he headed out.

Afterwards, Kibum lay awake until it was time to get ready for their schedules for the day. 

\--

Taemin had barely spoken to Kibum during the day. He’d kept mostly to himself, beyond their appearances on various TV shows and radio segments. 

Kibum had a feeling he knew exactly why Taemin was being so withdrawn, and while he understood, he also felt like it really wasn’t any of Taemin’s business who he chose to keep company with.

And speaking of said company, Minho had, naturally, not so much as looked in Kibum’s direction. As per usual. Kibum thought by now he would’ve gotten used to it, but the sting never fully went away. 

Jinki and Minho were off talking to the radio show host from their most recent schedule, and Kibum was sitting in the hall watching them. 

He didn't know how they got away with it. True, people were much freer with PDA in Korea. And both Jinki and Minho were careful about their skinship around other people. 

But somebody should've noticed by now that it wasn't all necessarily for the cameras.

"Aren't your hands hurting?" Taemin slid down the wall, coming to sit close beside Kibum. Kibum cocked his head to the side, not quite following. "From holding onto a kite that clearly wants to fly away, I mean." Taemin pointedly glared at the happy couple. 

Kibum said nothing, having no valid protest against the jab. Because his hands did hurt. 

"Guess they just don't hurt bad enough yet, huh?" Taemin sneered. Kibum bit his lip, hands curling into fists. 

"What do you want?" he faced Taemin when he heard a scoff. Taemin was shaking his head. 

"I'm hoping you'll wake up and realize you deserve better than somebody's table scraps," he hissed, eyes flashing. Kibum flinched, before getting up and walking away. 

\--

It was nearly 20 minutes before Taemin came to find him in the men's restroom. 

He didn't react to the soft knock on the stall door. 

"Everybody's waiting for you in the van," Taemin practically whispered, and didn't wait for a reply before he went back outside. 

Kibum sat on the toilet for a minute, collecting himself. He opened the stall, adjusting his clothes and hair in front of the mirror before he walked out, his head held high. 

He had a reputation to maintain, after all.

\--

Kibum had been in the process of getting ready for bed when he heard a knock at his door. He frowned at the clock, wondering who it could be. His stomach twisted uncomfortably. Visits so late at night usually weren't good news. 

When it was Minho behind the door, fist poised to knock again, Kibum was a bit taken aback. 

This was not in any way a part of their usual routine. Kibum’s anxiety ramped up, and his palms started getting clammy.

Still, he opened his door and gestured Minho inside, a slight puzzled smile in place. He followed Minho into the living room, relaxing somewhat when Minho bent down to love on the dogs. 

“So what’s this about?” he asked, and still managed to be surprised when Minho stood and wrapped himself around Kibum. 

“I was thinking about you,” Minho pressed his half-hard erection against Kibum’s ass, chuckling darkly when Kibum gasped. “All the way here, I thought about the things I want to do to you.. And what you do to me.” Kibum moaned, starting to get aroused himself. 

He turned and faced Minho with a smirk, intentionally sliding his dick against Minho’s. When he looked up at Minho’s face, however, things came to a screeching halt. 

The look in Minho’s eyes was blank, like he wasn’t even seeing Kibum. Or worse, like he was seeing Jinki instead. The guttering flame in his gut was extinguished by a flood of ice, and Kibum backed out of Minho’s arms. This was the last straw.

“Leave,” he said calmly, gesturing to his front door. “I’m not sure if you had a fight with Jinki, or whatever. I don’t care. I’m not your second choice anymore. I’m sick of this, so.. I’m done. I am _so_ fucking done.”

Minho had the audacity to look stunned by Kibum’s words. Like he hadn’t known it was coming since the whole thing began. The anger washed over Kibum like a tidal wave, sudden and almost blinding in its intensity. He took a deep breath to calm himself, fingers curling in a fist.

“Seriously, Minho. You need to leave,” he reiterated firmly. “Next time I’m not going to be so nice. _Get_ _out_.” 

Minho folded his arms, standing in place mulishly. 

“Not til you tell me where this came from, cause to me it feels like it’s out of nowhere,” he argued. “Look Kibum, we were never exclusive. And you didn’t seem to have a problem--,”

“ **Exactly**!” Kibum screamed “I never _seemed_ to have a problem. You’ve had your head so far up Jinki’s ass you wouldn’t have noticed if I sang ‘ _I have a problem_ ’ trot style with a parade in the street. Look Minho, we aren’t the same people we were when we started this. Bottom line - I can’t take any more. Find somebody else to be your fuck buddy when Jinki gives you blue balls.”

Minho blushed with indignation, anger, or humiliation. It’s entirely possible it was all three, but at this point Kibum couldn’t care less how Minho felt.

“Fine,” Minho spat. “I’ll leave, if my company is so fucking repulsive to you.” 

Kibum waved him out with a sarcastic smile, responding in kind when Minho flipped him a bird on his way out the door.

\--

Minho ignored Kibum like he didn’t exist when the cameras weren’t rolling. It wasn’t the first time, but it was the first time Kibum realized he didn’t care. 

It felt so freeing. He would’ve enjoyed it, if he hadn’t been so exhausted. After Minho left, he’d been too wired to sleep. He stayed awake much longer than he should have, playing and re-playing the situation. Coming up with things he should’ve said instead of what he actually had. Naturally, the version of himself in his head was much cooler and came up with lots of witty comebacks.

He was still thinking of such exchanges when Taemin came to stand beside him in the backstage area.

“Still accepting sloppy seconds, I see,” Taemin remarked snidely. Kibum shook his head, staring at Jinki and Minho talking quietly by themselves .

“Wrong. He’s ignoring me because I cut him off for good. You should’ve seen the look on his face. ' _He_ _refused_ _me_? _I’m_ _so_ _confused_ ’,” Kibum mocked. “I never thought he’d fulfill the dumb jock stereotype from fanfics, but here we are.”

“We all reacted differently, Kibum,” Taemin chided. “You know I’m not a fan of the way he treated you, but he wasn’t like that before. Which means he’s probably just acting out because of Jjong.” 

Kibum closed his eyes, unable to hide the flinch after Jonghyun’s nickname. Some days his death still felt so fresh the mere mention of him was painful. 

“You know, Kibum.. I’ve wondered for a while now. The way you get so upset after somebody mentions him… Were you in love with Jonghyun?” Kibum snapped his head towards Taemin, finding the dancer’s expression impenetrable. He scrambled to come up with a believable lie, but his lips remained stubbornly closed.

When Kibum failed to reply at all, Taemin nodded.

“Thought as much. I-it’s okay. I swear I’m not mad. It’s kind of a relief, honestly. Besides, it’s not like it matters now anyway,” he muttered, looking bitter. Kibum hesitantly offered Taemin a hug, one he accepted with more gusto than Kibum expected.

“It matters to me,” Kibum refuted quietly, in Taemin’s ear. “ _He_ matters to me.” 

Taemin tightened his grip on Kibum's back, staying silent in the wake of Kibum's inadvertent confession.

\--

Days blurred into weeks, and Minho's wounded pride slowly knit itself back together.

He started talking to Kibum again, albeit rarely. Only one or two word answers to questions Kibum asked, but at least it was something.

Taemin, however, had become strangely distant. 

That day, after Taemin caused Kibum's reluctant confession, he hadn't spoken to Kibum again. Kibum didn't know whether to take that as a good or bad sign, and ultimately decided not to stress about it. If Taemin wanted to talk to him, the dancer would seek Kibum out like he always had.

Or so he'd thought. After a couple of weeks, Kibum started wondering if Taemin not speaking to him was a bad sign after all. Still, he hesitated to reach out, not wanting to make the situation worse.

He needn't have worried, however. Taemin did indeed seek him out eventually. And what the maknae had to say blew Kibum all the way out of the water.

\--

On a rare Sunday afternoon they didn't have any schedules, Kibum heard a knock on his front door.

He paused the drama he was watching, padding to the door with his stomach roiling.

Memories from the last time someone had shown up to his apartment unannounced blared to life, and he tried to prepare himself mentally.

But instead of Minho, it was Taemin.

The dancer was fidgeting nervously, barging in as soon as Kibum opened his door. 

Kibum trailed after him into the living room, muttering about rudeness under his breath. He faced Taemin expectantly, nerves spiking when he noticed Taemin wasn't paying any attention to Comme des or Garcons. 

When Taemin still didn't say anything, Kibum cleared his throat to break the ice.

"So. What brings you by on this sunny afternoon?" he asked, trying to be casual. If Taemin needed time to come around to the subject he wanted to talk about, Kibum was happy to oblige. "Coffee? I've got sodas as well, if you'd rather." 

"I didn't come for drinks, Kibum," Taemin's voice had Kibum looking up from the fridge. At some point, he'd caged Kibum in. 

"For years, I wanted you to see me. I waited.. and waited.. and waited. But you know who saw me instead? Jonghyun. He always tried so hard to make the people around him happy," Taemin's voice broke and he stopped for a moment to collect himself. "He won me over, and I learned to forget about you. I was able to be friendly, and it didn't hurt. Until he died, anyway."

Kibum's mouth puckered in a grimace, but he let Taemin continue.

"You're all I think about," Taemin murmured intimately, eyes dark with an emotion Kibum really didn't want to name. "God, Kibum..," he leaned down like he wanted a kiss, and Kibum ducked under his arm. 

Kibum took a few steps back, and hugged himself.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Taemin barked out a humorless laugh.

"In case you haven't realized it yet, you can be pretty intimidating Kibum. I was 15 years old when we debuted. I certainly wasn't used to the glitz and glamour, much less the price tags on stuff we wore. But you handled it all with such ease. At first, I just thought it was envy of your coolness, but when I saw you come out of the dressing room on the Lucifer set for the first time.. I realized it was something else." 

Kibum didn't resist when Taemin came up and grabbed his hips, slowly trailing down to rest his hands in Kibum's back pockets. 

"God, I wish Jonghyun was still alive. He's the only one who ever knew how to make me stop feeling the way I feel now," he whispered against Kibum's neck. 

Tentatively, Kibum relaxed his tense frame. He reached around Taemin, resting his head on top of Taemin's. He stroked up and down Taemin's back, dragging his fingertips lightly across the skin. He couldn't help a smile when it caused goosebumps to appear, and Taemin let out a tiny moan. 

Kibum was in the same position, after all. He understood what Taemin was going through, considering how many times he'd wished that exact thing for that exact reason. 

He'd pined for Jonghyun for so long. Before he could confess, however, Jonghyun gently turned him down. That hurt worse than if he'd been harsh, in a way. Because it only caused Kibum's feelings to grow, even though they had no hope of fruition. Jonghyun was the reason Kibum had even started the thing with Minho. Looking at it now, the likely reason for all of it was standing in his arms. 

But Taemin was also the only person who even had an idea of how he'd felt after that fateful December day.

So if Taemin looked at Kibum and saw Jonghyun occasionally, well.. Kibum was the last person who’d say anything about it.


End file.
